13/02/2016 Weather for the Week Ahead

The weather's been turning a little colder

and more wintry through the second half of this week,

and that wintry theme sticks with us through the course of the weekend.

On Saturday, a couple of things to watch out for.

First off, low pressure just pushing along the English Channel,

bringing some outbreaks of rain, a little sleet and hill snow,

and brisk winds to many southern areas.

Windy for the Channel Isles, for instance.

To the north of that, a cold easterly wind.

That will draw in further snow showers

for the north-east of England and south-east Scotland,

where it could be disruptive,

with several centimetres likely to accumulate through the day.

A cold picture as we move through

the course of Saturday night, into Sunday.

The far south staying fairly cloudy, with outbreaks of drizzly rain,

but for much of the UK, it's going to be pretty chilly.

Temperatures in the countryside a few degrees lower than this.

A sharp frost to start off Sunday morning.

During the day on Sunday, we're between weather fronts.

We've got a weather front sitting out to the south-west

and the south-east.

In between, we're left with an east to north-easterly airflow

coming in off the North Sea, so again, it will feel pretty bitter.

The south-east will hold on

to some outbreaks of rain through the day.

Further snow showers for north-east England

and also for south-east Scotland once again.

But away from these areas, quite a good deal of brightness.

But that cold, biting easterly wind

and temperatures only around about 4 to 8 degrees.

Cold air well and truly in place as we end the weekend.

You can see the northerly winds.

They stay with us into the new working week as well.

It looks like a really cold start to Monday.

We can see a sharp frost.

Monday not shaping up too badly for many areas.

Some sunshine, especially in the west.

But that northerly wind drawing in some sleet and snow showers

to many eastern areas

and temperatures nothing to write home about.

A subtle change for Monday night into Tuesday.

A ridge of higher pressure creeps in from the Atlantic.

That means those brisk winds in the east

gradually dying away through the course of the day.

Tuesday, after a very cold start

with some freezing fog and some frost likely, not a bad day.

Some sunshine for many areas.

You can see that front arriving in the north-west.

That could bring some hill snow on its leading edge.

And as we see this front

slipping its way further southwards and eastwards

on into the middle of the week,

we could see some snow not only on the leading edge

of that frontal system, but also on the rear edge of it as well.

Some snowfall likely at times on Wednesday.

A period of rain for many areas,

particularly at low levels in between.

Temperatures, again, just around 5 to 7 Celsius.

A return to some fresher conditions

with sunshine and showers in the north-west later on.

This is how things are shaping up

as we look towards the latter part of the week,

for Thursday into Friday.

High pressure sitting out in the Atlantic there.

High pressure also across Scandinavia.

This frontal system looks like it peters out

a little bit across the country

and that means the cold air once again wins the battle.

So, things are staying cold.

You can see the blue colours on the map through the course of Thursday

and, in fact, on into Friday,

but a bit of a subtle change in wind direction.

So, we're looking at a bit more of a north-westerly influence

to our weather as we end of the week

with high pressure out in the Atlantic.

That north-westerly wind likely to draw in

areas of low pressure across the UK, pushing gradually south-eastwards

as we head through towards next weekend.

That means we'll have a little bit

of a northwest-southeast split to our weather,

with north-western areas likely to be blustery at times,

with wintry showers.

Further south and east, you are a drier theme to the weather

and a little bit less breezy here as well.

Plenty going on for the next ten days or so, but one thing's certain.

It is going to be staying cold, with sharp overnight frosts,

some rain, some hill snow at times,

and by the end of the period, things are becoming breezy once again.

Bye-bye for now.